Current：Home > ContactHow IBM's gamble ushered in the computer age -Elevate Capital Network
How IBM's gamble ushered in the computer age
View
Date：2025-04-13 09:02:59
In the book of corporate folklore, former IBM CEO Thomas Watson Jr. deserves a special spot. Specifically, the massive gamble he took in 1964 to introduce the System/360, which had the potential to undermine his own company's entire business model. Today on the show, an interview with author Marc Wortman on what Watson Jr.'s decision reveals about the fragile relationship between innovation and destruction.
Marc Wortman is co-author of the new book The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived: Tom Watson, Jr., and the Epic Story of How IBM Created the Digital Age.
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
veryGood！ (534)
Related
- US Open player compensation rises to a record $65 million, with singles champs getting $3.6 million
- Update your iPhone: Apple just pushed out a significant security update
- Police chief put on paid leave after allegedly body-slamming a student
- Harris pushes back on GOP criticism: We're delivering for the American people
- Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
- 3 former deputy jailers sentenced to prison in Kentucky inmate’s death
- Lab-grown human embryo-like structures bring hope for research into early-pregnancy complications
- Is it India? Is it Bharat? Speculations abound as government pushes for the country’s Sanskrit name
- 51-year-old Andy Macdonald puts on Tony Hawk-approved Olympic skateboard showing
- Italy’s government approves crackdown on juvenile crime after a spate of rapes and youth criminality
Ranking
- From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
- From spaceships to ‘Batman’ props, a Hollywood model maker’s creations and collection up for auction
- Death of Indianapolis murder convict at Indiana prison investigated as homicide, police say
- Parenting advice YouTuber Ruby Franke and business partner due in court on child abuse charges
- 'No Good Deed': Who's the killer in the Netflix comedy? And will there be a Season 2?
- Nicki Minaj paints hip-hop pink — and changes the game
- A former Texas lawman says he warned AG Ken Paxton in 2020 that he was risking indictment
- Peep these 20 new scary movies for Halloween, from 'The Nun 2' to 'Exorcist: Believer'
Recommendation
EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
Inside the renovated White House Situation Room: Cutting-edge tech, mahogany and that new car smell
What is the Blue Zones diet blowing up on Netflix? People who live to 100 eat this way.
7-year-old girl finds large diamond on her birthday at Arkansas park known for precious stones
The seven biggest college football quarterback competitions include Michigan, Ohio State
California governor signs bill to clear hurdles for student housing at Berkeley’s People’s Park
UN goal of achieving gender equality by 2030 is impossible because of biases against women, UN says
Author traces 'surprising history' of words that label women and their lives